Napoleon in Egypt by Paul Strathern

sending many to the guillotine during the Terror, he had conspired with Barras to overthrow Robespierre and then accused many of his former colleagues of being Royalists, having them thrown into prison. Later, he married the aristocratic Madame Cabarrus, who like Napoleon’s Josephine had also been a mistress of the omnivorous Barras. In the end, he had fallen from grace simply because no one would trust him, and he only managed to inveigle himself a place on the Egyptian expedition after Napoleon and the fleet had sailed. He traveled across the Mediterranean on Le Vif , a courier ship that evaded the British naval blockade and reached Alexandria on August 13. Suprisingly, Tallien appears to have earned Napoleon’s respect, and thus his membership of the prestigious Institute, by being the only one bold enough to persuade the commander-in-chief not to repeat his foray into Oriental dress.
    The literature and arts section of the Institute contained another mixed bag: this included the aging but ever-industrious painter Denon, the portraitist Dutertre (whose sketches would preserve for posterity the faces of so many savants, generals, emirs and even Mamelukes), as well as the poet Parseval-Grandmaison and the musician Rigel (the duo responsible for the interminable New Year cantata), and a member simply listed as “a Greek priest.” 2 This was a certain Don Raphael de Monachis, a Greek Orthodox priest who was the only member of the Institute not to be part of the French expedition. A later addition to this section would be the muralist Rigo, appointed as a reward for privately completing a fashion plate of Napoleon in plumed turban and Oriental robes.
    According to a proclamation issued by the French headquarters, the first meeting of the Institute of Egypt was held at seven A.M. (i.e., before the heat of the day) on 6 Fructidor Year VII (August 23, 1798) at the palace of the departed Mameluke Hassan-Kachef Bey, in his vacated harem. At this meeting, Monge was elected president, Napoleon became vice-president, and Fourier was made secretary. In the event, Fourier would become the leading organizer—though it quickly became clear during the proceedings who was the leading voice in the Institute. When Napoleon spoke, as he frequently did, often interrupting the individual speakers to seek clarification of some point he did not understand or agree with, most others fell silent. The only two who stood up to him were Berthollet, whose chemist’s materialism saw no place for Napoleon’s quasi-metaphysical worldview in a scientific institution, and Desgenettes, whose insistence upon medical priorities frequently grated with Napoleon’s more ambitious schemes. During a discussion of the Institute’s scientific program, Napoleon became so exasperated with both of them that he exclaimed: “Chemistry is just cookery for physicians, and medicine the science of murderers.” “In which case,” replied Desgenettes witheringly, “how would you define the science of generals?” 3
    Yet Napoleon’s contribution was far from always being intrusive or negative; he may have had a slightly overblown view of himself as a mathematician, but he was genuinely interested in science, and frequently sought to fill the gaps in his learning—to such an extent that he even asked Berthollet to give him chemistry lessons while he was in Cairo. All this in the midst of the grueling daily program he had imposed upon himself. Napoleon’s exceptional qualities, which even now continued to develop, appear to have been driven to evolve by the exceptional quantity of work he undertook during these early weeks in Cairo. Daily he would be at his desk before dawn, working in full uniform through the heat of the day, administering his army and Egypt’s internal affairs almost singlehandedly, at the same time putting together a full-scale reform program. Meanwhile he was also doing his best to maintain a foreign policy towards the outside world whilst